Apparatus for saturating fabric.



F. W. KREMER.

APPARATUS FOR SATURATING FABRIC.

Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

2' SHEETS SHEET I.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16. I914.

F. W. KREMER.

APPARATUS FOR'SATURATING FABRIC.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16. 1914.

1, 17%.,995, Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

W/T/VE88.E8 l/lll/E/JTOR A TTORNEYS FRANKLIN KREMER, OF CARLSTADT, NEW JAPPARATUS FOR SATURATING FABRIC.

I '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN W. KRE- MER, citizen of the United States,and a resident of Carlstadt, in the county of Bergen and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatusfor Saturating Fabric, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a process and apparatus for saturatingfabrics, and while the process and apparatus are particularly intendedand dapted for saturating canvas or other fabric with rubber or othermaterial to prepare the same for use in the manufacture of tire casings,it is obvious that the process and apparatus may be employed forsaturating many other materials.

The problem in view is tosaturate and coat canvas with rubber. Thisproblem, so

- being complete.

far as I am aware, has never heretofore been successively solvedalthough those skilled in the art have worked diligently for many yearsto effect a solution. It has been heretofore proposed to feed the dryfabric through a bath consisting of rubber dissolved in a suitablesolvent, the solution being known as rubber cement. After feeding fabricthrough the cement it was usually passed between squeezing rollers orother pressing means located above the surface of the rubber cement, thefunctions of the rollers being to press or squeeze the rubber into the.fabric. This old process, I believe, is still used in lieu of a betterone. The fibers of the fabric are not thoroughly saturated by the rubberbut are merely coated therewith. And, moreover,a certain percentage ofair is probablypresent at the time of the squeezing operation and thisprevents even the coating of the fiberswith rubber from It is found thatcanvas thus coated does not possess the maximum wearing qualities whenin use in tire casings. The canvas fibers exert friction action on eachother and break down or disintegrate. It has also been proposed toperform the operation of coating canvas with rubber in a vacuum chamberhaving the rubber cement solution in the lower portion thereof, thetheory being that by exhausting the air from the chamber, thevacuum-would draw out from the canvas any alr remaining thereinSpecification of Letters Patent.

before the canvas passed down into the rubber solution, it beingsupposed that the rubber would then be sucked into the canvas todisplace the vacuum. This vacuum process does not appear to operatesuccessfully. The canvas is not thoroughly saturated and Patented Mar.14, 1916.

Application filed May 16, 1914. Serial No. 839,135.

moreover the vacuum seems to act on the cement in such a manner that thesolvent is gasified or otherwise drawn out of the rubber, thusthickening up the cement and interfering with good results. As a resultof many years experience in this art and of numerous experiments anddisappointments I have finally invented and devised a method andapparatus for thoroughly saturating fabrics in a simple and inexpensivemanner.

My invention consists in feeding the dried fabric*into the rubbersolution or cement and in subjecting it, below the surface of the cementto such pressure as will squeeze out all the a1r remaining in thefabrlc, and 1n then releasing the fabric from thls pressure while stillsubmerged in the rubber solution so that the rubber is sucked thoroughlyinto all portions of the fibers of the canvas due to the expansion ofthe canvas after the release of the squeezing action. The canvas withthe rubber thus sucked into the very core thereof, is then fed out ofthe rubber solution and passed through suitable pressing rollers, fromwhich it is a drying chamber where it is properly dried, the fumes fromthe drying chamber resulting from the evaporation of the rubber solventbeing suitably withdrawn and condensed for re-use. Of course, thetemperature at this time must be. kept below that of vulcanization. Insqueezing out the air from the fabric,

the liquid cement and in then permitting the fabric to expand and suckin while under the surface of the liquid, I preferably effect theexpansion of the fabric sents the reel of dried fabric which is to bepart of this specification :1 Figure 1 is a vertical section through anovel form of apparatus adapted for carrying out the process of thepresent invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig.1.

Likereference characters indicate corresponding parts in the differentfigures of the drawing.

In order to give a general outline of the.

entire machine, the reference letter A represaturated, B the'saturatingtank containing the rubber solution and the submergedend of thesaturating tank B adjacent a suitable door 5. I From the slot 4 thedried fabric passes vertically downward into the rubber solution orcement 6 and through a pair of squeezing rollers 7, 8, which are powerdriven to the same surface speed in a suitable manner. The rollers 7 and8 are capable of being adjusted tightly toward each other in anyone ofthe large number of diflerentjways not necessary to be specificallyillustrated herein. The squeezing rollers 7 and 8 preferably arejournaled in any suitable manner in a roller-frame 9 which is mountedfor vertical slidingmovements between suitable tracks or guides 10 onthe sides of the saturating tank. The rollerframe isgraised by means ofa pinion 11 meshing with a "rack 12 which is connected with theroller-frame9. By turning the I pinion 11 through any suitable shaft theroller-frame and rollers may be lowered.

The squeezing rollers 7 and 8, which are soft material, such as rubber,'are adjusted tightly enough together to squeeze out all of the air inthe fabric. This air rises slowly through the cement in, the form ofbubbles and this bubble-filled portion of the cement may, if desired, bedrawn .ofl through the pipes 13 and 14, one arranged on each side of thefabric, and conducted by these pipes to any suitable settling tankswhere the cement is freed from the air. The two squeez-l ing rollers 7and 8 preferably are arranged in the same horizontal plane and thefabric 1 passes vertically through between, where-. by the fabric doesnot interfere with the air bubbles. The fabric with all the air squeezedtherefrom emerges in a downward direction. from therollers as indicatedat 15 and atv this point the surrounding rubber is sucked or absorbedinto the core of the fabric to take thepl'ace of the air. which wasexpelled by the squeezing action. From the roller 7, the

fabric passes along through the cement to a submerged idle roller 16from which it passes upward to the squeezing rollers 17 and 18 mountedin the saturating tank above the surface of the cement. The rollers 17and 18 are power driven at the same surface speed a as the -squeezingrollers 7 and 8 and they serve to squeeze the surplus rubber on thefabric back into the tank and also to press a part of such rubber intothe fabric. I prefer to employ a baffle plate 19 which is the solution.Consequently none of the expelled air is again ca ht by the fabric andcarried to the rollers and 8 a second time; and since the air in theinterstices of the fabric 1 therefore has to be expelled only once, theoperation of the squeezing rollers 7 and 8 is very eflicient. The fabricof course expands slightly as soon as it passes the rollers 7 and 8 andthus becomes more receptive to the solution and thereby subject tothorough impregnation. a The pair of squeezingrollers 17 and 18 aradjustable toward each other in any manner as indicated conventionallyat 20. From the rollers 17 and 18 the fabric passes through a slot 21and over an idle roller 22 through a slot 23 into a dry chamber 0 andaround an idle roller 24. The idle roller 22 is protected and covered bymeans of a shield 25.

After passing around the idle roller 24 the forward end of the fabricpreferably is securedgQo .a come-along 26, in the form of transverselybetween parallel endless-chains 27 mounted on suitable sprocket rollersand carried in a tortuous manner. upward and downward through the dryingchamber. 'One or more of the sprocket rollers for the endless chains 27may be power driven at the same speed as the squeezing rollers. sprocketrollers 28 are mounted on the ends. of shafts 29 which carry the smoothrollers 30 around which the .fabric passes in its movement through thedrying chamber.

It will be obvious that the sprocket chains and the come-along carry thesaturate fabric first upward and then downward and then upward, etc.,until the front end of.the

The

'a bar. shown in Figs. 1 and 2 extending fabric reaches a point adjacentthe winding.

up .chamber D at which; point an. operative.-

through the door 31 unhooks the .end of the; fabric from the'come-alongand guldes 1ton to the winding roller 32. The winding roller 32 as shownin Fig. 2 is provided out-- hand wheel 35. The sprocket 33 through thefriction clutch 34 winds the roller 32 at the proper speed and as theroll of fabric grows larger so that it needs to rotateslower in order totake up the slack of the fabric, the friction clutch permits thenecessary slippage.

The fabric on its way through the drying chamber may be dried by thesteam plates 36 arranged between thelaps of the fabric and supplied withsteam in any suitable manner as by means of the pipes 37, the water ofcondensation being withdrawn in any suitable manner as bymeans of thepipe 38. Suitable glass portholes 39 and 40 may be arranged in the sidesof the drying chamber for the inspection of the same, and a suitabledoor 41 may be arranged in position to be open when attaching the fabricto the come-along. If desired hot air may be supplied to the lower endof the drying chamber through the pipe 42 and valve 43. This hotairpasses along under the bafiie plate M and upward through the fabric.The hot air circulation may be maintained by suction on the upper pipe45 provided with the valve 46. The heavy fumes of the benzol or otherrubber solvent descend to the lower end of the drying chamber and aredrawn out through the pipes 17 and conducted through the pipe 48 toas'uitable condenser.

The operation of the process and apparatus is obvious from the foregoingdescription. The dried fabric is fed into the cement in such manner thatthey air is squeezed therefrom and the fabric expands at a point awayfrom the escaping air so that it sucks in or absorbs the rubbersolution. The fabric then passes out of the solution and the excessrubber is squeezed off or into the rubber and the fabric then passesinto the drying chamber through which it 'is fed on to a winding-uproll. The operation maybe made substantially continuous by sewing thefront end of onepiece of fabric to the rear end of the preceeding pieceorthe come-along may be arranged to sound an alarm bell in any suitablemanner to notify the attendant that the pieceof fabric is completelywound up.

. The fabric saturated according to this process is so thoroughlyimpregnated with rubber that fiber friction is avoided and the fabrichas a very long life in service.-

Samplesof rubber coated fabric prepared by this process can be pickedout readily from any number of samples prepared by the old process. Theprocess can be used not only for saturating and coating fabrics formanufacturing tire casings but also for water-proofing fabrics, paper orother material.

The squeezing action by which the air is excluded from the fabric belowthe surface of the solution is absolutely positive and sufficientpressure can be brought to bear to exclude all air. The process istherefore in marked contrast to the uncertain action of a vacuum createdabove the surface of the liquid. The efficiency and simplicity of thepresent process and apparatus are obvious.

As any suitable means can be employed for driving the various rollers atthe same surface speed, it has been deemed unnecessary to illustrate thesame specifically herein. I usually prefer to apply the power to thesubmerged squeezing roller 7 which is geared up with the roller 8. Thesprocket chains from the roller 7 serve to drive the rollers 17 and .18and the drying rollersin the drying chamber C at the same surface speed.7

What is claimed is:

1. The combination of a tank adapted to contain an impregnating fluid, apair of squeezing rollers immersed in the fluid in said tank, means forpermitting a fabric to be passed into said tank between said rollers,the direction of motion of said fabric entering said fluid between themeans for changing the direction of the fabric and the squeezing rollersfor the purpose ofconfining the air bubbles expelled from said fabric toa portion of said fluid.

2. The combination of a tank adapted tocontain an impregnating fluid, apair of squeezing rollers immersed in the fluid in said tank, means forpermitting fabric to bepassed into said tank between said rollers, thedirection of motion of said fabric being substantially parallel with thedirecon normally taken by air particles expelled from said fabric bysaid rollers, said tank having meansfor conducting air-laden fluidonori'e side of said fabric away in one direction, and air-laden fluidon the oppositeside of said fabric away in another direction, means'forcausing said fabric to change its direction after passing said squeezingrollers, and a pair of squeezing rollers above the surface of the fluidadapted to engage the fabric after it passes the afore- I said means forchanging its direction to expel any surplus of the fluid therefrombesqueezing rollers immersed therein, means .for feedlng a fabricvertically into the fluid to said squeezing rollers, said rollers actingto expel the'air from said fabric, said tank having means for conductingair-laden fluid on one side of said fabric awavin one direction,'andair-laden fluid'on the opposite side of said fabric away in anotherdirection, a guide roller immersed-in said fluid over which the fabricpasses after leaving the squeezing rollers, said guide roller and saidsqueezing rollers being at substantially the same distance from thebottom of said tank, and a baflie plate mounted in said tank andextending below the level of said fluid to a point between the squeezingrollers and guide roller, said baflle plate serving to confine the airbubbles-expelled from the fabric 1 to a portion of the fluid adjacentthe squeezing rollers. I 1

4. The combination of a tank adapted to contain an impregnating fluidand a pain of v squeezing rollers immersed therein, means for feeding afabric vertically into the fluid to said squeezing rollers, said rollersacting to expel the air from saidfabric, said tank having meansforconducting air-laden fluid on one side ofsaid fabric away in onedirection, and air-laden fluid on the opposite side of said fabric awayin another direction, a guide roller immersed in said fluid over whichthe fabric passes after leaving the same distance from the bottom ofsaid tank, and a pair of squeezing rollers beyond 7 the guide roller andabove the surface of ric having in combination an immersion tank,squeezing rollers, means for adjusting said rollers to vary theirpressure, a vertically sliding frame in which said rollers arejournaled, a rack on said frame within the tank and a door above thesaid frame, whereby by turning the pinion the frame may be lifted withthe rollers, out of the tank or may; be adjusted up and down within saidtan k r 6. In a tire fabric impregnating apparatus, in combination, atank, a bracket on the side of said tank adapted to sustain a drum, abracket on top of said tank, an idle roller in said bracket, an openingin the top and means connected to the tank for drying e combination of atank te contain a fluidto impregnate a fabric, means to be the imregnated fabric.

7 Tli immersed in said fluid to expel gaseous particles from saidfabric, means forconducting any fluid laden with such particles on oneside of the fabric away therefrom in one direction, and means forconducting any fluid laden with such particles on ;the opposite side ofthe fabric away therefrom in another direction.v

8. The combination of a tank to contain fluid to impregnate a fabric,means to be immersed in said fluid to expel gaseous particles from saidfabric, means for passing the fabric into the tank'to be acted upon bythe expelling means, the difection of motion of the fabric beingsubstantially parallel with'the direction normally taken by suchparticles after expulsion from the fabric, and means for conducting anyfluid laden with such particleson one side of the fabric away therefromin one direction and fluid laden with such particles onthe oppositeside'of' said fabric away therefrom in another direction.

9. The combination of a .tank to contain an impregnating fluid, a pairof squeezing rollers to be immersed in the fluid in said passed into thetank between said rollers, the

- direction of motion of said fabric'being substantially parallel withthe direction normally taken by gaseous particles expelled from saidfabric by the rollers, said tank having means for conducting fluidcontaining 'suchparticles on one side of 'the fabric.

away therefrom in one direction and any fluid containing such particleson the opposite side of the fabric away therefrom in another direction.

10. The combination of a tank to contain an impregnating fluid, a pairof squeezing rollers to be immersed in the fluid, means for permitting afabric to be passed into the tank between said rollers, the direction ofmotion of said fabric being substantially parallel with the directionnormally taken by gaseous particles expelled from the fabric by saidrollers, said tank having means for conducting fluid containing suchparticles on one side of the fabric away therefrom in one direction andfluid containing such particles ontheopposite side of the fabric awaytherefrom in another direction, and means for confining the particles toa part of saidfluid.

11. The combination of a tank to contain a fluid to impregnate a fabric,means to be immersed in the fluid in the tank to expel gaseous particlesfrom the fabric, and means for conducting fluid containing suchparticles away from both sides of the fabric.

12. The combination of artank to contain a fluid to impregnate a fabric,means to be immersed in the fluid in the tank to ex el gaseous particlesfrom the fabric, means ibr conducting fluid (containing such particlesafter expulsion away from the fabric, and 11 means for confining suchexpelled particles to a portion of the tank.

Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of New York this8th day of January, A. D. 1914. ,v

FRANKLIN W. KREMER. Witness:

C. W. BRINDLEY.

